27 August 2024 | 11:58 AM
MANILA, Philippines — Sheila Guo told the Senate on Tuesday that she left the Philippines by sea with ousted Bambang, Tarlac province, mayor Alice Guo, but, like her sister, she struggles to remember the details.
This was Sira’s first appearance at a Senate hearing since being detained by Indonesian authorities.
Sheila said she, Alice and her brother Wesley Guo left the country by sea, but she couldn’t pinpoint where they left from.
When asked by the senators which port the ship had departed from, Sheela replied, “Hindi ko alam yun luga (I don’t know where).”
Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa also asked whether the Guo brothers departed from Manila or Mindanao, to which Sheila replied, “Hindi ko alam.” (Where is Mindanao? I don’t know.)
Sheila claimed all she could remember was being picked up in a van from the farm in Tarlac. Senator Risa Hontiveros, who is leading the Senate investigation into Alice’s escape, asked if the siblings went to Zambales or Pangasinan, but Sheila, like her sister, said she could not remember.
The respondent also said he could not remember how long the journey took or who was driving the van.
Sheila said they boarded a small white boat and then a larger one. They boarded around midnight and arrived in the early hours of the morning.
While attending the Senate hearings, Alice Guo often exhibited selective amnesia, struggling to remember basic details about her life.
Nevertheless, Guo and his associates managed to elude Philippine authorities for months. The ousted Mayor Bambang gained notoriety through a high-profile Senate investigation into his ties to Philippine offshore gambling operators.
The Senate issued arrest warrants for Guo and his associates after they repeatedly failed to attend hearings. Sheila and POGO founder Cassandra Lee Ong were detained by Indonesian authorities and extradited to the Philippines on August 22.
